AT&T has promised the federal government that it’s going to not pursue DEI. That’s in response to a letter the corporate despatched to Federal Communications Fee (FCC) Chairman Brendan Carr on Dec. 1.
The transfer, which follows within the footsteps of Verizon, T-Cell, and Skydance, comes as AT&T seeks FCC approval for a $23 billion acquisition from broadband supplier EchoStar. Carr has threatened prosecutions and opened investigations into firms over DEI, and praised others for abandoning their practices.
“We’ve carefully adopted the latest Government Orders, Supreme Court docket rulings, and steerage issued by the US Equal Employment Alternative Fee and have adjusted our employment and enterprise practices,” the letter reads.
AT&T mentioned within the letter that it doesn’t, and won’t, have a DEI crew. DEI doesn’t exist at AT&T, “not simply in identify however in substance,” and the corporate “doesn’t and won’t have any roles targeted on DEI.”
Whereas the corporate echoed language utilized by the Trump administration, together with “merit-based” and “invidious DEI,” in its four-page letter, it doesn’t seem as if AT&T is asserting new modifications, together with the elimination of current applications. As an alternative, it mentioned applications “are and can proceed to be open to all, in line with Title VII [of the Civil Rights Act of 1964].”
“AT&T’s reversal isn’t a sudden transformation of values, however a strategic monetary play to curry favor with this FCC/Administration,” Anna Gomez, the only Democrat on the FCC, mentioned on X in response to the letter. “Firms ought to keep in mind that abandoning equity and inclusion for short-term achieve can be a stain to their popularity lengthy into the longer term.”
AT&T rebranded its DEI programming in 2024 and made modifications earlier this yr, seemingly after strain from conservative activist Robby Starbuck, together with abandoning a lot of its assist for the LGBTQ+ group and ending participation in exterior benchmarking indexes.
Nevertheless, AT&T does nonetheless have some initiatives historically related to DEI, equivalent to worker useful resource teams (ERGs), which have existed on the firm for over 50 years.
“Our letter reaffirms our longstanding practices of hiring and selling primarily based on benefit, supporting an engaged workforce, and assembly our enterprise aims to serve clients nationwide,” Rebecca Acuña, a spokesperson for AT&T, instructed HR Brew in an emailed assertion.
AT&T’s letter echoes guarantees that Verizon made to Carr in Could, together with that it might sundown most of its DEI applications, dissolve its DEI crew, and droop DEI coaching, HR Brew reported beforehand.
On the time, David Glasgow, govt director at New York College’s Meltzer Middle for Variety, Inclusion, and Belonging, and co-author of the forthcoming ebook, How Equality Wins, predicted that the federal authorities wouldn’t enable firms to easily rebrand.
“The much less optimistic view is that this administration is on an absolute tear on this subject, and can hold grinding away to root out something that’s about selling equity and equal alternative within the office, except it’s simply old-school discrimination legislation compliance,” Glasgow instructed HR Brew.
Glasgow mentioned it’s unsurprising that firms would change course primarily based on authorities directives. “Simply the obscure menace of an govt order tossing across the time period ‘unlawful DEI’ is making a whole lot of firms scared to proceed with it. So sadly, I do suppose we’ll most likely see extra.”
This report was initially revealed by HR Brew.
